First-time buyers 'highest since crash'

Fri 20 Jan 2017

The number of first time buyers in 2016 was the highest since the start of the financial crash, according to the Halifax.

There were 335,750 FTBs last year, compared to a the peak of  402,800 in 2006, and a low of 192,300 just two years later.

However, the Halifax also reported that the average first-time deposit has more than doubled to £32,321 compared to a decade ago.

David Gibson, managing partner at Whitton & Laing said that “people buying for the first time this year face lower competition from investors and second-homers, some of whom have been deterred from the market by the increased stamp duty for these sorts of properties, and we expect this trend to continue during 2017”.